I am a member of the Catholic Committee for Girl Organizations that oversees the NFCYM programs for the Archdiocese of New Orleans. In the past I've been the coordinator for the God Is Love program for Daisies, and this year I took on the Family of God program for Brownies.
The NFCYM awards include pins that can be worn on the front of a Girl Scout uniform and patches which are worn on the back. There are awards for each Girl Scout level and the books for younger girls are written for use in the family. However, it is common in my area for Catholic school troops to do the awards as a troop and as a committee we have started offering programs for girls in any troops.
While I certainly believe that parents are the primary educators of their children, and that religious education isn't likely to stick if it isn't lived at home, I've also been there and done that as a busy parent of kids involved in multiple activities and I know that homework, whether from school or church or Girl Scouts is not looked upon fondly. We try to make our day programs fun and spiritually enriching, so they are something the girls look forward to rather than being a burden.
The Family of God book has six chapters and each chapter has a number of activities offered. Girls (or in our case , the committee) select three to do. The chapters alternate between focusing on the family and the Christian community,
I Am Special to My Family
Activities in this section focus on individual girls and their families. We chose to have the girls list four activities they did well, draw pictures of their families, and make a mobile showing four faces showing different feelings.
Though not a part of the material in the book, through the day I read three different stories to the girls.
When God Made You is written in iambic pentameter and is great fun to read aloud. It fits beautifully with the first two chapters and I read it between them.
I Am Special to God's Family
The first activity we did for this chapter was a collage of God's creatures. Girls started by drawing a picture of themselves and then went through a stack of old religion books to cut out pictures of God's creatures and create a collage.
Next, we wrote a short prayer thanking God for something special and we shared our prayers with the group. Finally, we learned to sing and do the hand motions for "His Banner Over Me Is Love" and pasted the lyrics in our books. .
I Belong to My Family
This chapter's activities focus on what it means to be in a family so I started by reading the Berenstein Bears story Big Family Album in which the cubs help Grandpa take things up to the attic and while there discover the family photo album.
In this chapter we listed the members of our family and two or three jobs they did in the family. Next, we drew a picture of something our family likes to do together and talked about it. Finally we put together a family tree. The paper the girls filled in had circles for them, their parents and their grandparents. I told them to draw circles for their siblings. They filled in people's names or what they called them.
Lunch
When I do these days I always plan for an hour lunch break. If things are going too slowly, I can cut the lunch break, and if we are moving "too quickly" we can give the girls more time to play.
I Belong to God's Family
The activities for this chapter focus on the parish and the church. One requirement was to learn the names of the parish staff and what they do. We had the girls complete this sheet and paste it in their book. We wrote the names on chart paper for them to copy.
Another activity is to draw or create a model of the place your family gathers with God's family for worship. I did this program twice this year--once at the scheduled time for anyone who signed up, and once a couple of weeks later for two of my girls who were quarantined that week. When we did it with the big group, we talked a little about the things they would see in the church and then we had them draw their church.
However, I knew that one of my girls HATES to draw or write and since my girls go to our church, where we meet, I got a key to the building and we went over there and took pictures. I gave them strips with the names of various things in the church and one girl would hold the strip and the other would take the picture. I sent the photos home and told the parents to have them printed and to let the girls paste them in the book.
I think if I do this book again, I'm going to have the girls/leaders bring photos of the inside of their churches. We'll go over and look at our church and find the various parts and then come back to the meeting room, paste the photos of their churches in the book, and paste labels around it and draw lines to the stuff.
Finally, we read and talked about Matthew 18:21-35 where Jesus talks about forgiving 70x7 times. Before I read it to the big group I had each girl come up and draw seven lines on my chart paper. When I just had the two girls I had them draw 70 lines. After reading the story we talked about forgiveness and how many 70X7 was and how it really meant that it is so many we can't keep track. We had a card that said 70X7 on it and the girls pasted it in their book and decorated it with stickers.
I Can Help My Family
For this chapter we did a chore chart saying they would pick up their toys and clothes and leaving blank for another chore. Girls were to indicate on the chart that they did the chore.
Next, we planted a seed and talked about caring for it. Girls were to put a picture of the plant in the book.
The final activity for this chapter was to decorate a paper lunch bag. In the bag we placed the names of family members and girls were to draw a name each day and pray for the family member. We talked about how one way we help our family is by praying for them.
I Can Help God's Family
First for this chapter we read the story of the loaves and the fishes and talked about how God doesn't need us to help Him, but he wants us to help Him. We drew a picture of something we could do for people to show we loved them.
Next, I read the story about Mother Theresa (it came from our public library) and talked about helping those in need. The girls had been asked to bring food for the food bank so we posed for a picture by the prayer table where the food had been placed. This was emailed home to be printed and put in the book.
Finally we finished with a prayer service. I let the girls pick opening and closing songs and whether to say the Our Father, the Hail Mary or the Glory Be. I had each girl write and then offer one prayer of thanksgiving and one prayer of petition.
My Comments
I like to make these days more than a series of drawing and/or writing exercises as there is always one girl who doesn't like either one. I liked that I was able to find a variety of activities, though I had to come up with the photos in church myself.
The book has information for parents in the back but no reading material for the girls. I came up with the stories as a way to add a little instruction.
Overall I'd recommend the program and doing it in a group.
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